World news in today's age travels with such speed that we are aware at once of wars, cruelty, famine and other human disasters. We must pay attention, pray, and in our own measure do what we can to al...

Falling short in the most important area of Christian life, that of loving God and our neighbor for His sake, is enough of a daily stumbling block to merit Blessed John Henry Newman’s focus in a ser...

We have very sadly gotten almost accustomed to saying God's name in vain or hearing others do so. There is little reverence in the way people dress and behave at church. There is a loss of the sense o...

St. Philip owed a great deal to St. Ignatius, telling one of the latter's disciples that he had learned how to do "mental prayer" from St. Ignatius. He even considered being admitted to his Society of...

Moral and religious decadence evokes spiritual reforms, and these require spokesmen, people who in the first place embody the life that they preach. St. Philip Neri would be such an agent for such a s...

Today the Church honors a great saint, Philip Neri (Filippo di Neri), who countered the decadent culture of his time with humility, charity and truthfulness. Philip (July 21, 1515 – May 25, 1595), w...

We return once more to Newman's Sermon "Christ, the Son of God made Man" which explains the meaning of the Scripture passage: "Christ being come, an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater an...

In the season of Lent we prepare for the celebration of the mystery of Christ's Passion and Death and Resurrection. The events of Christ's Baptism and Temptations in the desert, and of his Transfigura...

On the First Sunday of Lent we reflect on Christ's Temptations in the desert. Jesus was tempted by Satan and conquered over him. As St. Augustine wrote: in Christ we were tempted because he had our fl...

John Henry Newman preached the sermon The Cross of Christ the Measure of the World on April 9, 1841 (Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol 6). In this sermon preached on a Fifth Sunday of Lent he offers a ...

Today is Christmas day. In his Parochial and Plain Sermons Blessed John Henry Newman preached a sermon on the Incarnation reflecting on St. John's text: "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." ...

Boys and girls are like soft sponges that absorb all the water around them. They acquire piety and virtue or vice depending on the influence they receive at home, school and church. Children learn and...

Newman writes that Jesus appeared to St. John as is related in the book of Revelation and to St. Paul in Corinth and Jerusalem in visions, but "These appearances were not an actual presence of Christ...

Newman realizes that Christ's presence in Christians and in his Church is mysterious, but based on Christ's promise believes that it is a real presence.
"Through the Holy Ghost we have communion with...

In this Easter sermon Newman explores the paradox of Christ's presence and simultaneous absence from the world. Christ leaves us as far as a visible presence, but promises to remain with us and his Ch...